Volume 121 Fall 2014 Roundup Issue 5

Wi-Fi, cafeteria frustrate Issues not likely to be solved soon

Pierce College faculty and staff articulated diverse opinions about the school’s Wi-Fi connectivity, and its lack of cafeteria vendors.

Attitudes ranged from frustration to indifference at the Academic Senate meeting on Oct. 20, in BUS 3200. While Wi-Fi has worked in the Library / Learning Crossroads building, it has been difficult to connect to elsewhere on campus.

“It’s a very complicated, frustrating issue for everybody that’s dependent on technology,” Chemistry department chair Isidore Goodman said.

Despite the issue’s complexity, Goodman offered a solution to the problem.

Farm Center’s decade milestone

The Farm Center always cuts an environmental message into the corn maze during the Oct. festivities, but this year, the message simply reads “Pierce Farm 10 Years”.

The Pierce College Farm Center turned 10 years old this harvest season.

In 2005, the Farm Center hosted its first Halloween Harvest Festival. Ten years later, the farm is celebrating its anniversary by doing what it has always done – providing produce, fun, and education to the students and community.

Farm Center director Robert McBroom said the farm has come a long way since 2005, when it was just a piece of fallow land.

“It started with just selling pumpkins,” McBroom said. “It grew into a farm and developed into a community asset.”

McBroom has been in charge of the Farm Center since 2005, after previously running a Halloween show at a Boeing facility in Chatsworth.

School honored Pierce granted Leader College status

Seth Perlstein News Editor

Pierce College added a feather to its cap when it earned Leader College status from community college success initiative Achieving the Dream.

This year’s crop of Leader Colleges totaled 16 schools from 10 states. They obtained the rating because of successful firstyear experience programs. Two other LACCD schools, East Los Angeles College (ELAC) and LA Harbor College, also received the distinction. No other California community colleges secured the title of Leader College in 2014.

“It shows that Pierce, Harbor and ELAC are all doing well by our students,” LACCD Board of Trustees president Scott Svonkin

said. “But it is not the end of anything. It’s just a piece of it.”

Pierce, ELAC and Harbor earned the Leader College title after they each showed statistical improvement in their first-year success programs.

Pierce earned the honor because it increased the ratio of its successful credit-hours completion from 66.3 percent in 2009-2010 to 69.5 percent in 2012-2013, according to Achieving the Dream.

ELAC increased developmentaleducation English success rates for first-time college students from 21.8 percent in 2007 to 34.1 percent in 2010. Harbor increased springto-fall persistence rates for all students from 64.6 percent in 20092010 to 69.6 percent in 2012-2013, according to Achieving the Dream.

“All of our students are my heroes,” Harbor president Otto Lee

While running the Chatsworth show, McBroom met Rocky Young, the president of Pierce College at that time. Eventually, McBroom could no longer host the Halloween show at the Chatsworth location, but Young offered him the chance to organize an event at Pierce.

“It started with giving us a chance. We looked at it as an opportunity to continue our Halloween production,” McBroom said.

According to McBroom, the first Harvest Festival at Pierce in 2005 was actually an effort to raise money for an “Agricultural Education Center”, which McBroom had

been contracted to develop. The festival was so successful that McBroom’s contract was changed to focus on farming year-round.

“The college wanted to make sure that the sustainability of this project was there from the get-go,” McBroom said. “And boy, was it there.”

McBroom said that since then, the Farm Center has been a fiscally successful operation that has stressed the importance of educating students and the community on the processes of farming and agriculture.

[See HARVEST, pg. 6]

“Put pressure on your dean to communicate with IT,” Goodman said. “Make sure that IT is aware of these issues.”

Computer applications and office technologies professor and Academic Senate treasurer Joe Perret was less inclined toward Goodman’s “peaceful fight for connectivity.” Instead, he urged people to express their frustration to get a resolution.

Senators were not much happier about the state of the Library/ Learning Crossroads cafeteria. However, they didn’t have a solution for the cafeteria which has had one vendor since it opened.

“There was a study done one year ago with a possibility of a single provider district-wide,” Perret said. “They have to come back to the president with recommendations this semester.”

A single, district-wide vendor could spell trouble for some of the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) schools, academic senate president Kathy Oborn said.

“If they do bring in this vendor then there’s too much competition,” Oborn said. “And then the schools that have the program will lose the revenue from selling food to the students. Therefore, they will die.”

Oborn was not optimistic that the cafeteria would be filled with new vendors in the near future.

“So yes, our new, beautiful cafeteria will probably be sitting there for some years until we get to a different place,” Oborn said.

Profitability has been an issue in sourcing new cafeteria vendors, Perret said.

said. The three schools attended workshops and went through extensive training with Achieving

the Dream before they even implemented their programs.

“It’s been a long process,” Svonkin said.

The catalyst for Pierce’s success was GO Days.

[See DREAM, pg. 3]

“I think it is one of those insolvable problems,” Perret said. “The difficulty in solving the problem is that nobody can come in here and provide the service and make money.”

The next Academic Senate meeting is on Monday, Nov. 3, at 2:15 p.m. in the Great Hall.

Nicolas Heredia / Roundup

Harmony Berg is an actor in the Factory of Nightmares at the Pierce College Farm Center. For more photos on the Halloween Harvest Festival, visit pages 4 & 5.

Andrew Escobar Roundup Reporter

Lynn Rosado Sports Editor

Seth Perlstein / Roundup Pierce College president Kathleen Burke explains her school’s success with GO Days. Chemical engineering major Erick Valadez waits to speak at the LACCD Achieving the Dream press conference.

I first arrived at Pierce College in the fall of 1968. I was running cross country for my high school. We ran through the college farm which, at that time, consisted of 450 head of cattle including five breeding bulls. We had a yearly rodeo, and farm tours giving 20,000 inner city kids a taste of farm life for a day (“Day on the farm” program). Two hundred fifty high school FFA (Future Farmers of America) students visited our farm yearly. We had lots of farm machinery, horses, and other “dangers” present on the farm. No one sued and the college was not worried about lawsuits.

None of these visitors required the extensive paper work now mandated by our college district prior to entering our campus. I am not faulting our college administration. They are trying to protect us from expensive lawsuits. The courts have ruled that schools have a duty to protect, a responsibility to anticipate potential dangers and to take precautions to prevent injury from these dangers.

According to my research, however, we have not had an increase in the frequency of lawsuits during the past two decades, nationally. In the Education Law Yearbook (2006) school districts won conclusively in two thirds of cases filed for simple negligence involving student injury. California is a breed by itself. People here feel obligated to sue (more than entitled). I will not debate tort reform here. However, the simple threat of a lawsuit has created our current climate.

For a scout troop or school (public or private) to arrange a farm tour requires an extensive book of papers to be completed and filed with our district. It takes a minimum of 45 days (and more likely two months) to approve of a farm tour. Each student must have his/ her parents sign a “hold harmless” paper, the school must file their respective insurance policies with our district, and the school must complete a vendor contract form, W9 form and a permit to use our facilities form.

My department no longer has secretary staff and thus this extensive paperwork has been relegated to already overworked faculty. Recently, I met with the college’s administration. They are interested in streamlining the application process and providing assistance in submitting the forms.

I love seeing the excitement in a young child’s eyes the first time they see a green or blue egg, or milk coming out of a cow. I would like to provide future generations of Angelenos the opportunities given to me more than 40 years ago. I am happy that the college administration is actively working to help preserve this unique opportunity.

Leland Shapiro Department chair of Agriculture and Natural Resource

& Thumbs Up Thumbs Down

The restrooms in the Village are in worse condition than ever. The floor frequently becomes soiled and paper waste litters the floor, sinks and toilets. We understand the custodians are doing their best, but more attention needs to be given to these lavatories.

Farm a relic of history that needs preserving

The farm is the face of Pierce College and one of the few things that remain from the identity of the old San Fernando Valley. Now that identity is being lost with the modernization of the valley. To make sure we keep our piece of this past, the land must be declared a historical landmark.

To apply for landmark status the site must be the first, last, only, or most significant of its type in the state or within a large geographic region, have a profound influence on the history of California or the architecture has to have excellent integrity and be the best surviving work of a pioneer architect, designer or master builder.

While the farm might be one of the last college farms in the state, it certainly has had a profound influence on the history of the San Fernando Valley.

Pierce first opened in 1947 as the Clarence W. Pierce School of Agriculture to educate returning veterans of World War II, 212 of whom enrolled in the first year, according to the Agriculture department website. At the time, Los Angeles County was the leading agricultural county in the state.

The agricultural presence has waned in the San Fernando Valley in the years since, leaving the Pierce farm as one of the last relics of this history that needs to be protected.

If historical landmark status cannot be attained, an alternative could be to sign a Williamson Act contract and make the farm an agricultural preserve.

Agricultural preserves are legally protected sections of land that are restricted to agricultural or open space uses in an effort to hold back “unnecessary conversion to urban uses,” according to the California Department of Conservation website.

The only requirements are that the land must be no less than 100 acres, which the farm easily meets, and the minimum term of the contract is 10 years.

The only problem is that the farm is owned by Pierce and in the end it is up to the college to initiate such a contract.

While this might not seem like a worry under the current college president, Kathleen Burke, who has not sold any land nor expressed a desire to do so, it has happened in the past.

A previous article by the Roundup reported that in 1987, 21 acres of land was sold for $4 million, on which the West Valley Occupational Center was built. Before it was sold, it was a place where Pierce College’s cows ranged, according to Leland Shapiro, department chair of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Even though Burke made clear their intentions not to sell any land in a press release, who is to say that the next president or future administrators will not decide to sell more land?

The culture of the San Fernando Valley is at stake and if Pierce wants to ensure we have a farm for posterity, the land must be made into a historical landmark to ensure no interest groups inside or outside the school can tread on what is left of the valley’s early culture.

Proposition 47 reduces unjust criminal convictions

thousands.

varredondo.roundupnews@gmail.com

It is a waste of government funds to hold petty theft criminals and substance abusers under the same criminal justice standards as murderers, rapists and terrorists.

California Proposition 47, the Reduced Penalties for Some Crimes Initiative, is simply that: a proposition to reduce penalties for less serious, non-violent crimes. This proposition calls for property crimes, under $950, and minor drug crimes to be reduced from felony charges to misdemeanor charges.

According to a 2013 report

by California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, crimes against persons such as rape, murder and robbery were 44.8 percent of the total felon admissions. Property crimes such as petty theft, fraud/forgery and receiving stolen property made up 23.6 percent of the total felon admission. Drug crimes such as the possession of drugs, sale and manufacture made up 14.9 percent of the total felon admission. Other felony crimes fell neatly under the “other” category with a 16.6 percent felony admission. Though crimes against people, which includes violent and serious crimes, make up the plurality of the felon admissions, property, drug, and other crimes made up the majority at 55.1 percent. Drug and property crimes alone made up 38.5 percent of total felon admissions,

Flydoskope by Tobennh Dacanay

a total of 14,511 inmates last year. Based on our criminal justice system, a felony is punishable by more than a year of imprisonment or death. Because these property and drug crimes are obviously not serious enough to warrant capital punishment, offenders are usually subjected to many years of incarceration. These non-violent offenders take up jail space and use up state funds by being imprisoned longer than necessary.

It would be beneficial for California to implement this law. According to the California Voter Guide, the state would save hundreds of millions of dollars each year by reducing the charge of property and drug crimes to a misdemeanor, a less serious offense punishable by up to a year in jail and/or a fine, and as a result would reduce the populations of inmates by the

-COMIC STRIP-

Those hundreds of millions of dollars saved would be put to great use by funding social services programs. A new state fund, The Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Fund, will receive all the annual savings earned from this new measure.

The money will be allocated to reducing truancy and dropout rates in K-12 schools (25 percent of funds), victim services (10 percent of funds), and mental health and drug abuse treatment with the goal of keeping persons out of jail (65 percent of funds).

This proposition not only alleviates the crowded jail problem but also saves the state money, and more importantly make it mandatory to use that money for helpful community resources. The benefits vastly outweigh the detriments.

tlanimator@gmail.com

Illustration by Nick Part

Vanessa Arredondo

File Photo: Lynn Levitt

Staff trains for worst of times

On-campus active shooters on rise, Pierce prepares

Seth Perlstein News Editor

Two retired police officers and a psychologist offered sage advice to Pierce College faculty and staff about how to respond to an active shooter situation on campus.

The workshop “Keeping Yourself and Your Classroom Safe” was presented in the Great Hall on Oct. 22 by the Embassy Consulting Services three-person team of retired Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) Cmdr. Josef Levy, retired LBPD Sgt. Melvin McGuire and licensed psychologist Elijah Levy.

“When the gun goes off, the rules change,” McGuire said. “We want you to have a response, not a reaction.”

Reactions such as disbelief, denial and feelings of hopelessness have cost lives, McGuire said.

“If there are 10 people in the room, and only one person in the room knows what to do, that could save 10 lives,” McGuire said. “The difference between four and 14 dead is trained verse untrained.”

The trio also discussed mental illness, and how it doesn’t play a factor in most violent crimes.

News briefs

Transfer Day and College Fair [Oct. 30]

Pierce College will host a Transfer Day and College Fair to help students learn more about University of California, California State University and out of state public and private schools.

Recruiters will provide students with flyers, programs, and core information for the entire process of transferring.

“We have workshops covering everything from appointments to personal statements,” Transfer Center assistant Joe Garcia said. “In addition, we have events from transferring college fair, UCLA/ CSUN days, as well as on-campus visits from area colleges and recruiters.”

For the complete Transfer Day and College Fair story visit www. theroundupnews.com.

Thursday, Oct. 30 10 a.m. - 1.p.m. the Mall

Job Fair [Nov. 4]

More than 35 employers will be on the Mall including American Solar Direct, Child Development Institute, Kaiser Permanente and LAUSD.

The full list of employers and available positions are online via the QR code below.

Incident Report

Oct. 16 - 24 – Compiled by: Seth Perlstein

steps to bring our faculty and staff more awareness to the issue,” Pierce Associate Vice President Larry Kraus said. “If we hear the sound that we think might be a gunshot, we need to react pretty quickly.”

But Pierce hasn’t always been so prepared for such a scenario.

“If you would have asked me two or three years ago, no disrespect to anybody, I would have laughed,” Health Center director Beth Benne said. “We never had an emergency drill. So I think that Larry Kraus, Rolph Schleicher and the rest of our administration has made a concerted effort to prepare us.”

The workshop’s 18-person turnout “shocked” administrative analyst Victoria Romero.

“It is a wonderful event to have on campus, because we need to be aware of what’s going on,” Romero said. “Unfortunately, there’s not that many people participating in this event.”

Pierce College Sheriff’s Station

General Information: (818) 719 - 6450

Emergency: (818) 710 - 4311

10/16—School Closure

The campus was evacuated and locked down for five hours after Sergio Castanon Jr., a former Pierce student, implied an active shooter threat on Facebook.

Castanon Jr. was arrested, but was freed after posting $50,000 bail five hours later.

10/22—Petty Theft

A student’s purse was stolen after its owner left it in a library cubicle while she was in the bathroom between 5:50 p.m. and 5:55 p.m.

10/22—Student Incident

Tuesday, Nov. 4 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. the Mall

Winter Intersession 2015 [Jan. 5 - Feb. 7]

Pierce College’s winter intersession schedule of classes has been released.

The intersession is a compacted, five-week schedule from Jan. 5 - Feb. 7., that offers a selection of core classes.

Online registration opened in mid-October.

The complete winter intersession schedule of classes is available at the web address below.

www.piercecollege.edu/ schedules

“The mentally ill are no more prone to violence than anybody else in the general population,” J. Levy said. “That’s a stigma that’s somehow been fixed to it, that we think whenever there’s an active shooter the person is mentally ill.”

Mentally unhealthy people have committed three to four percent of

violent crimes, and mental illness has not been the cause for the majority of on-campus violence, J. Levy said.

“The common denominator in many of these shootings is the suspect in some way shape or form feels like they have been wronged,” J. Levy said. “Either real

or perceived, they felt like they’ve been dealt an injustice. Mental illness may or may not tie into it, typically not.”

Whether related to mental illness or not, active shooter incidents on campuses are on the rise, McGuire said.

“We have really taken great

The Safety Task Force will show the 30-minute video “Shots Fired on Campus” on Tuesday, Oct. 28, at 12:30 p.m., and Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m., in CFS 91125.

“The students should come to our video,” Kraus said. “They should see the video and be a little more aware of the environment of an active shooter, and of situations that are not acceptable.”

A student waved a plastic machine gun at people on the mall in front of the bookstore. The student was detained, questioned and turned over to Dean of Student Services David Follosco.

10/24—Petty Theft

A female student was arrested for stealing a laptop in the library at 3:36 p.m. The investigation is ongoing.

Theater re-opening delayed until spring 2015

The renovation of Pierce College’s Performing Arts Building was expected to be finished in 2012, but has been delayed again, this time until 2015.

The upgrade began in summer 2011, and was initially expected to be completed by fall 2012.

Architectural issues pushed it back to fall 2014. But now the theater is scheduled to open in spring 2015.

The latest delay was an issue with the drop ceiling over the main stage theater, Pierce College theater manager Michael Sande said.

“The schedule that we had announced to our supporters was that we’d start the season back

up there,” Sande said. “But that building was supposed to be opened already the first day of the fall semester because we hold classes, too. We don’t just do plays, we teach classes as well.”

The theater still has yellow tape and roadblocks blocking off its entrances.

“We’re moving forward to get a solution in place that will give us back the use of the main-stage theater,” Director of facilities Paul Nieman said.

The entire theatre department was displaced and relocated to the green buildings across from the Child Development Center and the Center for Sciences during the ongoing construction.

“All of these buildings are temporary. These are all rented,

Press conference

[From DREAM, pg. 1]

“We have adopted a vision around student success and completion,”

Pierce President Kathleen Burke said. “We say we like to see more caps at commencement.”

Caps was also described by Burke as a double entendre. Its second meaning was C.A.P.S., an acronym for completion, accountability, partnerships and success. The acronym targeted attention on Pierce’s teaching plan, Burke said.

“Pierce College has a long history of focus on student success,” Burke said. “Achieving the Dream really added to our repertoire that we were already building.” Pierce had been moving down this path for almost a decade, Burke said. It had implemented studentsuccess driven programs like Reading Apprenticeship, Academic Success at Pierce (ASAP) and Statway.

Pierce wanted to find something to add to what it was doing when it went to the first Achieving the

Dream conference, Burke said. That’s when Pierce learned about a program that was focused on orientation, and when it adopted GO Days.

GO, an acronym for get organized, get oriented and get onboard, had another meaning to Burke.

“I like to say, ‘get on with it,’” Burke said.

GO Days was designed to help new students succeed. Data showed that new students who got direction when they started college were more successful than those who did not, Burke said.

“It’s one more tool in our tool belt,” Burke said. “This gave us a leg up on things focused around issues of orientation.”

The leg up came from hard work by faculty and staff. But Joanna Zimring Towne, Pierce’s career center director, was the “heart and soul” behind GO Days, Burke said.

“It’s a proud moment for the college,” Burke said. “It’s been a lot of people, a lot of hard work.”

portable buildings,” Sande said. “There are classrooms, a rehearsal room, shops for costumes, shops to build our sets.”

The department has also used a tent as a makeshift performance venue.

“We were fortunate that the school provided us with that and

with all of (the rented buildings),” Sande said. “The music department, during this renovation, had to go do all their programs and concerts off campus because the theater tent is not large enough for an orchestra.”

The tent has been an adequate temporary replacement for the theater department, but has had its

share of shortcomings, particularly its size.

“The tent is okay, but it’s difficult to work around it, especially if you have a scene with different actors,” Theater major Abby Soskin said.

– Compiled by Seth Perlstein and Cristina Pimentel

Vanessa Arredondo Roundup Reporter

Nicolas Heredia / Roundup

Embassy Consulting Servicesʼ Melvin McGuire speaks to Faculty and Students about campus safety at Pierce Collegeʼs Great Hall in Woodland Hills, Calif., Oct. 22, 2014.

Erick Ceron / Roundup

The Performing Arts building remains closed at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., Oct. 27,

Harvestand Fun and frights descended on for its tenth anniversary and final Attractions include haunted corn maze, which give Halloween adrenaline fix. Each year, the environmental message spelled reads ‘Pierce Farm 10 Years.’ The friendly activities such as a carousel, hunt of throughout the maze 26 and runs through Sunday, Nov. not to renew the McBroom family’s and the center will cease all activities

Copy: Nick McNamara

Children and parents ride the Cow Train at the Halloween Harvest Festival.

Photo by Joshua Duarte

Robert McBroom Sr. shucking corn at the Halloween Harvest Festival.

Photo by Calvin B. Alagot / Special to the Roundup

Anthony Roberts and his son, Xavier Roberts, ride the carousel at the Harvest Festival. Photo by Calvin B. Alagot / Special to the Roundup Louis Lugo, Fernanda Gonzales, Arnulfo Trinidad and Ricardo Leon performed Aztec music and dance at the Halloween Harvest Festival.

Photo by Calvin B. Alagot / Special to the Roundup

Asif Baig is a scare actor this fall for the Factory of Nightmares.

Photo by Nicolas Heredia

The Halloween Harvest Festival at Pierce College features a corn maze, the festival runs

Photo by Calvin B. Alagot / Special to the Roundup

and Horrors

the Pierce College Farm Center final Halloween Harvest Festival. haunted houses and a zombie-infested Halloween junkies a chance to get their the corn maze has had a different spelled out in the corn, but this year it The festival also features family carousel, tractor rides, a scavenger and more t he festival began Sept. Nov. 2. Pierce College has elected family’s lease for the Farm Center activities on December 26, 2014.

Michelle Delacruz applies burlap, latex, tissue paper, and makeup on scare actor Lea Moore for the grand opening of the 10th Halloween Harvest Festival.

Photo by Diego Barajas

Ashley Rivas applies fake blood onto Ken Morrow’s makeup for the grand opening of the 10th Halloween Harvest Festival.

Photo by Diego Barajas

Robert Morales is a scare actor for the Chain Reaction haunted maze.

Photo by Nicolas Heredia

runs through Sunday, Nov. 2.

(left to right) Tyler Davis and Dennis are scare actors in the

Children of the Corn haunted trail.

Photo by Nicolas Heredia

Final Halloween Harvest Festival

[From JUMP

Currently, the Farm Center has snippets of information and answers to common questions posted around its grounds, encouraging visitors to learn a bit more about the facility itself. There’s also a “scavenger hunt of knowledge” in the corn maze to provide kids with an educational goal as they explore.

On top of educating its visitors, the Farm Center is the top employer of Pierce College students on campus, according to McBroom.

- Robert McBroom Farm Center Director

English professor dives in Running in a Triathlon with determination

Teaching can be a challenge within itself. Then again, so can swimming, biking and running over 140 miles combined in the span of a single day.

Chris Corning, an adjunct professor of English at Pierce College, looks to tackle both of these challenges this semester.

Corning, 33, started working at Pierce in 2013 and is currently teaching English 21 and 28.

Outside of teaching, Corning has run four marathons in the last year and a half and is currently training for the upcoming Ironman Triathlon held in Cozumel, Mexico on Nov. 30.

The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full 26.2-mile marathon all done in one day.

Although it’s Corning’s first time participating in the triathlon ,he is preparing himself for the challenges that will arise.

“It’s going to be 15 hours of hell,” Corning said.

Growing up just south of Chicago, Illinois, Corning earned his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

He eventually moved to California in 2006, and went on to earn his master’s in the same subject from California State University, Northridge in 2010.

In addition to teaching, Corning

also works full-time as a project coordinator for a non-profit organization aimed to help those who are recovering from substance abuse.

However, the sedentary nature of this job led to him to gain extra weight and in turn he started running to lose some of that weight.

“Between working a desk job and teaching online classes, I was doing a lot of things where I was just sitting around,” Corning said. “I reached that age where I couldn’t just sit around and eat the way I like to eat. I needed to do something active.”

Corning mentioned he was never

very athletic until he started trying to lose the excess weight he gained.

Although he began with simple weekly jogs, Corning soon developed a passion for running that motivated him to enter the Los Angeles Marathon in 2013.

He has completed three additional full marathons since the Orange County Marathon, Surf City Marathon, and the LA Marathon for a second time in addition to several 10k runs.

During the 2014 LA Marathon, Corning almost quit after reaggravating a calf injury that he originally suffered while participating in the Surf City

Marathon.

“I had actually posted on Facebook that I was quitting and walking off the course, but then I ran into a couple of people from my running club who were walking and said they would walk with me if I was OK to continue, and that kept me going,” Corning said. “I limped the last 12 miles of the race.”

Jennifer Hendershot, a friend and training partner of Corning, praised his fortitude at the LA Marathon.

“It takes dedication and determination to complete any event, especially with an injury,” Hendershot said.

“When he puts his mind to something, he gets it done.”

One employee, 24-year-old Pierce student Fernanda Gonzalez, has been working at the farm center for 8 years.

“I started as a ride operator when I was 17, but since then I started working with animals, especially the ponies,” Gonzalez said. “We get a lot of students in the animal section and we love to have them here, especially little kids. They come and learn a lot of new stuff.”

Fernandez said that working with horses at Pierce inspired her to pursue a major in equine science, the study of horses. She said her favorite part of working at the Farm Center is interacting and teaching kids who come and visit on field trips.

Another farm employee, 22-year-old Kate Donovan, recalled visiting the farm center with her father when she was younger.

“My dad and I would always come here to pick the strawberries,” Donovan said. “The strawberries were my fondest memory of this

place.”

Donovan also said that the current celebration brought many familiar faces back to the Farm Center in recent weeks.

“Everyone from the past, especially employees, have been coming by because it’s our ten-year, and they’re all surprised about how much bigger we’ve gotten since our first year,” Donovan said.

Though the Farm Center’s anniversary celebration has been tainted by the earlier announcement that it will be closing after this year, McBroom said that the mood for visitors is still a happy one.

“I don’t want it to be depressing,” McBroom said. “The harvest is always a culmination of the hard work of the year. In modern times, it has evolved into larger celebrations of Halloween and all the different things we do now. It’s a great environment.”

McBroom’s wife, Cathy, who also serves as the codirector of the Farm Center, said she’s been pleased with the community’s response to the Farm Center since it opened.

“The community’s response has been pretty consistent from opening until now,” Cathy McBroom said. “They love it. They believe in it. They invest in it. We’re in our tenth year and they’re still coming.”

As the Farm Center moves toward its impending closure, the McBrooms said they are happy with the “family” they have created through the Farm Center, and hope that its spirit and lessons stick with those who visited it over the years.

“We have set family traditions,” Cathy McBroom said. “We’ve seen the customers’ children grow up, as well as our own staff that have come back and are taking courses at Pierce College themselves. They won’t walk away from the family that we’ve all become.”

The Farm Center’s Halloween Harvest Festival ends Nov. 2.

Nicolas Heredia / Roundup

Adjunct professor of English Christopher Corning swims laps in the Steven E. Schofield Aquatics Center at Pierce College.

Andrew Escobar Roundup Reporter

Nicolas Heredia / Roundup Corning is currently training for a Triathlon that will be held in Cozumel, Mexico on Nov. 2014.

“I don’t want it to be depressing.”

ʻMaster of Mayhemʼ

Lynn Rosado Sports Editor

Theatre Review: “For This Moment Alone” sets tone for Fall

Abooming voice fills the room with emotions ranging from despair to anguish, as a dim light flickers to the rhythm of the ominous music in the background. This raw feeling along with those of love and hope are just a sample of what “For This Moment Alone” offers its audience.

From the very beginning, actor Brian Robert Harris, portrays Uncle Joe Aaron and commands the stage effortlessly. His firm voice with a tight grasp on dialogue and swift facial expressions lead with ease to set the mood for the duration of the play.

Set in 1948 in Toronto, Canada, “For This Moment Alone” is about a Jewish family recovering from the horrors of the holocaust that must face their past once again. Ruth, Joe’s niece, is a driven woman who has lost nearly all of her immediate family. She has a brother that she’s anxiously been waiting to meet, but upon arrival to meet him she discovers that he is an imposter who has used her brother Freddie’s identity.

Ruth, played by Jessica Lynn Verdi showcased a vast range of emotions and did so consistently throughout every scene. She exudes excitement and joy when she bursts through the door, and her energy never falters. Even when not engaged in dialogue, Verdi maintains emotion through

her facial expressions and body language. When the highly anticipated scene arrives, in which Ruth is to meet her long lost brother Freddie, Verdi is able to swiftly shift into a different emotion with ease. Freddie, portrayed by Ryan Lisman, introduces an ominous and more grounded tone. Ruth is able to recognize that he is an imposter immediately, and Verdi’s execution is impeccable. As Ruth, she makes you believe her tears, disappointment, and betrayal. Verdi proves her versatility by taking the dialogue and strengthening it with her actions. She falls to the floor

and the thud makes the audience jump, she screams and kicks and executes anger so real that she forces the audience to do nothing else but believe her.

However, Hessel Evelaar fails to maintain the energy portrayed by Verdi and Harris. His dialogue felt monotonous, and there were several unnecessarily long pauses which interrupted the flow of the scenes. When not engaged in dialogue, Evelaar often broke out of character and didn’t seem as focused as his fellow cast members.

Thankfully, this lack of energy was countered by the genius comedic relief of Aunt Bertha and family friend, Ada. Laura Goldstein and Marilyn Lazik, who play Bertha and Ada respectively, are a powerful, efficient, and consistent team. Lazik exudes confidence and weaves through her dialogue so well that you truly believe Bertha and Ada have known each other for a long time. Through her charismatic stage presence, Lazik is able to convince the audience of the authenticity of the friendship she shares with the Aaron family. Goldstein was also able to deliver witty banter that never failed to make the audience laugh. Together, they were crucial to counteracting the darker and more somber side of the story.

These voices collectively make the booming heard throughout the stage. Whether it be the gloom

and realistic depression or the high energy that accompanies hope, the actors of “For This Moment Alone” are rhythmic and consistent with their execution of dialogue and emotion.

He walks into the dimly lit theatre and there’s a feeling of assurance that he is the director whose name is printed on the poster. His dominating presence exudes experience and passion for the art of theatre.

Robert Cucuzza, the “master of mayhem” according to The New York Times, is an actor, filmmaker, acting teacher, and director.

Cucuzza is from Bradford, Pa. and lived in New York for 16 years before moving to Los Angeles six years ago.

He started out as an actor at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pa. where he received a bachelor of fine arts in literary and cultural studies with a minor in theater in 1990.

During his career at Mellon, Cucuzza always knew there was something else he wanted to do.

“I started out as an actor at Carnegie Mellon and then I left that program,” Cucuzza said.

“I knew there was something else I wanted to be doing but I wasn’t sure what. Then I realized after studying english for a while, that I was more interested in being a director.”

It took Cucuzza some time to figure out that he wanted to direct instead of act, but his involvement in the theater is what led him to the realization.

“Not from the very beginning, but when I started acting I was always involved in every aspect of theater,” Cucuzza said. “I never just acted, I also designed sets and was interested in every facet of the theater.”

Cucuzza has been directing and teaching at Pierce since fall 2013 and loves that he can do both.

[For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]

Lynn Levitt / Special to the Roundup

Outraged Ruth Goldfarb (Jessica Lynn Verdi) empties Freddieʼs (Ryan LIsman) suitcase, not knowing what she expects to find, during the performance “For This Moment Alone.”

Cesar Armenta Roundup Reporter

Lynn Levitt / Special to the Roundup Joe Aaron (Brian Robert Harris) questions Freddie (Ryan Lisman) as he arrives after being imprisoned in the Auschwitz concentration camp and professes to be the brother of Ruth Goldfarb.

Nicolas Heredia/ Roundup

Robert Cucuzza sits on the set of his play, “For This Moment Alone.”

Cancer Awareness

Athletes share their cancer stories

College athletes’ lives are typically filled with classes, studying, practice, and workouts, which leaves little time for a life outside of sports. But for most athletes family comes first, especially during times of need.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and to some athletes it hits a little closer to home. Pierce College is home to 242 athletes and 20 have had a family member that’s faced some form of cancer.

This year more than 220,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 are estimated to die from the disease, according to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc.

Trey Dunkelberger, Robert Fowlkes, and Marissa Albano are just three of those athletes.

Dunkelberger plays tight end for the Pierce football team. About three weeks ago, he lost his grandmother to breast cancer after a 14-year fight. Fowlkes plays running back and his mother is currently fighting a rare form of cancer that’s developed around her spine, which has caused her to lose mobility.

Albano is a freshman midfielder for the soccer team. Her mother was diagnosed in 2012 with breast cancer and was declared cancer-free on Sept. 8 of this year.

But these three players aren’t the only athletes that have had someone close to them battle for their lives

Football: Nine players have closely dealt with cancer. Nieko Williams’ has two aunts who faced cancer. His aunt Charmaine lost her battle against brain cancer and his Aunt Lashon is in remission from breast cancer. Wendell O’Brien’s aunt Gloria recently lost her fight with breast cancer. Marcus Mays’ aunt died from breast cancer in 2004.

Jonathon Robinson’s grandmother had leukemia and died after catching pneumonia. Nik Fields’ mother won her fight against breast cancer. Josiah Torres’ grandmother lost her fight with breast cancer and Dillon King’s mom had skin cancer.

Other athletes who’ve also had family members with cancer:

Men’s basketball: JR Williams’ mom is currently fighting colon cancer.

Women’s volleyball:

Mika Fabbro’s grandfather had brain cancer and her best friend also has brain cancer. Kirsten Cabarong’s grandfather had lung cancer, her uncle had kidney and lung cancer, and another uncle had Leukemia. Montana Shepard’s grandmother had lung cancer and her uncle had colon cancer. Callie Kruse’s aunt had breast cancer and survived. Serena Snaer’s mom had Leukemia and her grandma had breast cancer. Leanna Schott’s grandfather pancreatic cancer and her grandmother had breast cancer.

Chelsea Lawrence’s uncle had stomach cancer. Both of Rachel Lods’ grandfathers had cancer, one had Luekemia and the other had lung cancer.

Women’s Volleyball Dig for Pink game will be Friday, Oct. 31 in the South Gym.

Football’s cancer awareness night will be Saturday, Nov. 1 at John Shepard Stadium.

Trey Dunkelberger

was around 11 years old they would visit the outer banks and take day-trips during the summer to Delaware.

Robert Fowlkes

rest of her life.”

[For

Originally from a small town outside of Redding, Pa., this football player comes from a tightknit family that’s become even closer. Three weeks ago, Trey Dunkelberger lost his grandmother to a 14-year battle with breast cancer.

Dunkelberger, a 20-year-old criminal justice major, plays tight end for Pierce College football. Out of high school, he attended Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania before moving out to California to play for the Brahmas.

After attending a Division II (D2) school, he had make a decision between sitting out for a year at a Division I (D1) school, or to go to a junior college with hopes of receiving a full-ride D1 offer.

His grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, but her last eight months, when Dunkelberger moved to California, were her worst.

“It was really hard because she was the first person that I’ve lost in my immediate family,” Dunkelberger said. “I’ve never lost anyone that close before so it was just really tough.”

“Just being at the beach with her was one of the best memories,” Dunkelberger said. “That’s where she wanted her ashes spread, she loved the ocean. Now whenever I’m at the ocean, I’m definitely going to remember her.”

Dunkelberger wasn’t only supported by his family, but his teammates and coaches were there for him in his time of need as well.

“I went home the week before she passed,” Dunkelberger said. “They let me miss the game and I got a lot of messages from my teammates.”

Head coach, Efrain Martinez said the team and coaches were aware and supportive of his grandmother’s health but Dunkelberger didn’t publicize it.

Dunkelberger and his family have become even closer and his family will be flying out to Arizona in early December to watch him play in the fifth annual Junior College Pro Bowl All American game with four of his teammates.

“I know that she’s looking over me and I feel like I have that protection from her now,” Dunkelberger said.

Pierce College freshman running back Robert Fowlkes’ was told his mother had a rare form of cancer in 2013.

Fowlkes’ mother Loretha Henry, 49, is still alive, despite what doctors told her last year.

“They said that my mother wouldn’t make it through the year [2013],” Fowlkes said. “Once my mom told me that they said that, I looked her in the eye and said that we have to keep faith.”

Henry was diagnosed with a form of spinal cancer.

“The cancer she has is terminal but they’re saying with surgery, it could possibly be cured,” Fowlkes said “The only thing with that is there’s also cancerous tumors near her spine. The only thing about that surgery is that my mother could possibly become paralyzed for the

Marissa Albano

In the first cancer awareness game at Pierce College, Marissa Albano gave a speech dedicated to her mother before kickoff.

Walking up to the sprinkled pink field you can’t miss the breast cancer awareness posters along the gate, pink balloons, pink hair ties in every players hair, pink streamers lining the tents, and the coach in a pink shirt.

During her speech, Albano fought back tears but ended on a positive note.

“I think she draws her strength from her mother,” Pierce forward Kiana Riles said. “She’s a strong person, and a strong player. She knows that we’re all here for her.”

Albano’s mother, Christina Hatfield found out about her breast cancer in 2012.

Hatfield walked into her primary care physician’s office on Sept. 8,

“Now they’re saying the only option my mom has left would be to have surgery,” Fowlkes said. “It’s not a decision that I want my mom to make alone. I feel like it’s one that we should sit down and talk about as a family.”

He lost his grandmother to this form of cancer back in 1997 when he was only 3 years old, and he still remembers her.

“My grandmother’s last words to my mom were to make sure you take care of Trey [a nickname he was given by his grandmother],” Fowlkes said. “I don’t take my grandma’s last words lightly, that’s why I need to make the most of my life and really keep pressing on and be successful.”

Fowlkes offers advice for those who have had the same experience.

“Have faith, stay positive, and surround yourself with a good supporting group of people,” Fowlkes said.

Some of his favorite memories with his grandmother involve going to the beach. When Dunkelberger

[For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]

2014 and was told she was cancer free. This was the life changing news she had hoped to hear.

“I want my mom’s story to be known, to let anyone who gets diagnosed with stage four breast cancer know that there are alternatives to chemotherapy, and radiation. My Mom did it all on her own,” Albano said.

[For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]

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Nicolas Heredia / Roundup

Trey Dunkelberger honors his grandmotherʼs memory with a message written on his back protector pad. Monday, Oct. 27 at Pierce College.

Photo courtesy

Nicolas Heredia / Roundup

Robert Fowlkes stays positive throughout his mothers battle with cancer.

Megan Moureaux Social Media Editor

Matthew Robinson Roundup Reporter

Tavian Quinn Roundup Reporter

Andre Alcazar/Special to the Roundup Freshman midfielder Marissa Albano talks about her motherʼs battle with cancer on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Pierce College.

Megan Moureaux Social Media Editor